To ‘Ell’ and back: Why Mick must consider Leeds move

Former Ireland captain and Irish Examiner columnist Andy Townsend

SO Martin O’Neill is out of the frame at Leeds. Does that make Mick McCarthy’s nose twitch all the more feverishly as he heads off on a well deserved holiday this afternoon?

What begins for me as a reflection on the World Cup - enjoyable but not compelling - and Ireland’s relative success therein, invariably ends by looking at the qualifying campaign for the 2004 European Championships and begs the question: will Mick McCarthy still be at the helm by then?

In the rush to anoint speculation as fact, there are a few indisputable points. Mick will be tempted by Leeds’ reputed interest. The time-table is okay. These offers don’t come around with regularity. The Irish manager has given his country six years, and has enjoyed what most reasonably-minded people would accept was a successful major tournament.

McCarthy will recognise as quickly as anyone that it is always important not to outstay one’s welcome. That’s not a suggestion for him to pack his bags - it’s a football fact of life.

I must be honest: I would be surprised if McCarthy is the manager for the 2004 finals in Portugal. Who knows, the FAI may already be scanning the horizon to examine alternatives. I think they should be. Merrion Square and McCarthy both accept that the opportunity to manage a club such as Leeds does not come around too often, and the ghost of Roy Keane will only ever be a crucial loss away from McCarthy’s doorstep.

The manager is perfectly entitled to believe he handled the affair as best he could, but it isn’t going away. For that to happen, Keane would have to declare publicly that he has no interest in playing again for the Republic. He won’t do that.

I have not been party to any of the tittle-tattle about who said what, but it takes more of a man to put his hand out and forget the rights and wrongs than it does to walk away from an international career. It’s not that they have slept with each other’s wife. Roy Keane won’t ever convince me that there were not moments when he suffered awful moments watching the World Cup at home.

Many on the sidelines quote words like faith and loyalty to underscore their view that Mick is obliged to stay because the FAI stood by him in Saipan. Mick McCarthy has already repaid the faith shown in him by the FAI with his results in the World Cup. Loyalty is a different question. There is no obligation on McCarthy to show loyalty to those who showed faith in him. In football, loyalty is an over hyped virtue. Most players and managers always have one eye on tomorrow.

What isn’t depressing is the prospect of Ireland advancing on the finals of a major tournament with a real chance of making the last four. That is the wholly realistic scenario ahead for the European Championships. John O’Shea will need to progress, Clinton Morrison will have to find another gear and Richard Sadlier has a long road to go yet. But they are all aiming at the areas where there is immediate scope for improvement. Damien Duff and Robbie Keane have made the transition to the world stage. Now their colleagues must follow.

Ireland should never go into a major finals again believing they are intruding on someone’s else’s party. If nothing else, Japan and Korea proved that the Republic of Ireland belong.

I always anticipated we would emerge from the group stage. My only regret is that we didn’t defeat the Germans, who never inspired me, not even making last Sunday’s final. This World Cup put Ireland back on the map. We’re players again. And even if, as a spectator, we were short-changed when France, Argentina, Portugal and later Italy and Spain left the party, the climax was appropriate.

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